Liberty hosts Sarah Palin at Convocation

Former governor of Alaska and Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, visited Liberty University during the final official Convocation of the semester Wednesday, Dec. 4 to talk about her career in politics and her new book, “Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas.”

“We cannot lose the heart of Christmas because I guarantee you, losing that will erode the heart of America,” Palin said of the motivation behind her book. “That’s what we cannot afford to lose.”

According to President Jerry Falwell, Jr., Palin had been a prospective Convocation speaker for more than two years, but her schedule prevented her from being able to make the trip until Wednesday.

Falwell expressed his support for Palin during the Convocation, commending Palin for her work in politics during her career.

“She’s known for her tireless commitment to conservative values, limiting the size of government, exercising fiscal restraint and protecting religious freedom,” Falwell said in his introduction of Palin.

In a break from the normal Convocation format, Falwell and Liberty Vice President for Communications Johnnie Moore sat down with Palin and interviewed her about both her book and her life in and out of politics. Karen Jeffers, a senior government major at Liberty, said she thought that the unique format allowed students a closer look at Palin’s personality.

“I like those kind of Convocations because you get to see the speaker be a little bit more real with the audience, so I definitely appreciate that,” Jeffers said. “And Sarah Palin is a great person to have that kind of conversation with because she does have such a unique personality for a politician, and it’s a great way to showcase that.”

According to Jeffers, she agreed with many of the opinions expressed by Palin during Convocation about topics such as the subject of her book, the “war on Christmas” as Palin referred to it, and the debate on the separation of church and state.

“She’s definitely what Liberty encompasses,” Jeffers said. “She is a champion for Christ, and she’s definitely not afraid to say what she thinks … She was very funny, and she kind of brings a lightheartedness to the dirty politics that are going on right now, and I appreciate that about her.”

Christmas Convocation, a more lighthearted event at which attendance is optional for students, will bring the fall Convocation schedule to a close Thursday, Dec. 5.

3 Comments:

There is no “War on Christmas.” Just because Sarah Palin writes a book about it, or Bill O’Reilly bloviates about it on Fox News, doesn’t make it so. How COULD there be a “War on Christmas?” After all, Christmas is the ONLY religious holiday in the U.S. that causes the public and private sector to grind virtually to a halt, so non-Christians have no choice but to go along with it.

And despite what many conservative Christians would like you to believe, there is also no “persecution of Christians” going on the United States. How could there be? MOST Americans identify as Christian, and virtually ALL religious programming on TV and radio is Christian-oriented.

So why all the outrage? It isn’t because Christians are suddenly getting the short end of the stick, but because American government and society are becoming more sensitve to the fact that ours is a religiously pluralistic society, that a growing percentage of our population is either non-Christian or non-religious, and that under the Constitution no one faith takes precedence over all others. What Bill O’Reilly and Sarah Palin see as a “War on Christmas” is actually a society in which Christianity is not receiving preferential treatment.

And to Falwell; Sarah Palin is only interested in protecting her own religious freedoms. I happen to have a friend who is Jewish and another who is Hindu and they both agree on the same thing…they don’t appreciate being bombarded with “Merry Christmas” by so many Christians who blatantly assume that they are Christian as well. As with so many other people who have respect for other people’s religion, they kindly respond with “Happy Holidays”. Once again, very well written Chuck!!!